A Design of Partial Textured Surface on Gear Washers for Reducing Friction and Wear under Low Speed and Heavy Load Conditions

Abstract

This paper presents the effort to reduce friction and wear of gear washers under low-speed and heavy-load conditions by designing the arrangement of surface textures. The influence of distributional parameters of textures on load-bearing capacity and friction coefficient of gear washers are studied numerically to obtain a preferable surface texturing design. Then, experimental tests were carried out to plot the Stribeck curves of the obtained texture arrangement compared with bare surface and another unoptimizable texture distribution arrangement to facilitate the verification of the simulation results. Theoretical predictions illustrate that the annular gear washers with partial surface texturing provide lower friction coefficients than bare washers. Textures having a sector angle of 20°, a coverage angle of 12°, a circumferential number of 8, and a radial number of 6 are selected as the final optimal surface texture distribution design. Experimental results confirm that the obtained texture arrangement moves the Stribeck curve towards the lower left, indicating thickening of oil film thickness and reduction in friction coefficient. In addition, the weight loss caused by wear is also reduced by the optimized texture design.